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Any advice to start early on a career in IT?

I'm still in High School ready to begin a career path in IT. What can I do toadvance this? Are there certifications I can and should obtain? Certain skillsI should pick up?BasicsI have basic Java, C++, HTML skills (Based on the classes I have taken in school) but I am learning these languages in depth one by one. I really enjoy programming, and maybe a course towards entrepreneurship.

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Don't get obsessed with certifications

Don't focus too much on certs. If you want to be a programmer, the best thing you can do is to start developing your portfolio so you have some sample projects to show your prespective employers.Try to do a few weeks work experience (it will probably be unpaid) with a development company or something similar, just so you have something to put on your resume. Once you get a foot in the door and/or decide on a language to specialise in, then you can look to certify yourself as you wish.

much more to IT than coding

There are 10,000 areas of specialty in IT. coding is certainly one way you can go. I interned for a couple years in a systems/networking group of a retailer. I suggest for the code aspect to plop a server in Amazon EC2 or something comparable to host your projects, then you can put the public DNS name on your business card or wherever and people will be able to look at them or get someone who knows more to look at them and report back. I have exited the IT field, sort of, however I was pondering getting some comp tia certs (still am) and the Linux Professional Institute (that would be hard and not too many people know about it, but it appears to be the best linux cert out there). For a coder, I'm not sure what certs are available. I know Oracle has some available for Java. Your local for-profit tech school may offer testing (no classes required, just the test fee).

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